Individual 2020 Membership

Individual 2020-2022 3-Year Membership

$110.00

Individual 3-year HBS membership for membership years 2020-2022. Includes the Historic Brass Journal for 2020, 2021 and 2022. Journals are typically mailed out either at the end of the membership year or at the beginning of the following year.

Students / Seniors 2020

$35.00

Discounted rate for full-time students or senior citizens (65+). This will start with the 2020 membership year and include the 2020 Historic Brass Journal which will be mailed between December 2020 and February 2021.

Today Louis Ganne is regarded as a minor 19th century composer, but in his day Ganne was highly regarded and composed over 200 works (including songs, comic operas, operettas, ballet scores, and many dance pieces). Ganne entered the Paris Conservatoire where he studied organ under César Franck and began his career as a composer and conductor. Jean-Louis Couturier has brought out this lovely cornet solo piece to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the composer’s birth. [Editor's note: the publisher has put a short audio excerpt of the work on their website BP]

The source of this edition is in the Bibliothéque nationale and was first published in 1888. This short piece (91 measures) is a lively and spirited work of modest difficulty and a modest two octave range, A - a''. The piece is filled with 16th note and some 32nd note passages reminiscent of pieces in the Dauverné method of some three decades earlier. This edition includes a piano part as well as C and Bb cornet parts. It is a welcome addition to the cornet repertoire.

Couturier’s edition of Dauverné’s 20 Etudes variées pour trompette chromatique is actually several selections from the famous method of 1857. This modern edition numbers the etudes 1 – 20 but in fact they are from different sections of the method and have a different original numbering. Etudes 1-12 in this edition are from “12 Etudes Melodiques” (page 248 in my facsimile edition published by International Music Diffusion). Etudes 13- 17 correspond to numbers 1 – 5 in the original edition in the “20 Etudes Caractéristiques et Mélodiques” section (page 266 in the IMD edition) and Etude 18 in the Courturier edition corresponds to Etude 20 in the original edition. The last etude in the modern edition, no. 19, corresponds to Etude 11 in the original edition (page 230) from the section titled “12 Etuders Mélodiques”. Courturier did mention those different sections in his fine notes (in French and English translation by Elizabeth Guill) but it would have been helpful if this edition had indicated the original numbers. Courturier presents parts that are transposed from the original notation with parts for Bb trumpet. My edition had an extra Erratum page correcting an unfortunate measure rest which is not in the actual part. Courturier’s edition in a great improvement over the facsimile edition in that it is less cramped and much easier to read than the original. The music is printed on large size sturdy stock. We owe Jean-Louis Couturier much thanks for his research in 19th century French brass music and look forward to future editions.

Latest News and Events

Vienna Talk 2020, at which the HBS was scheduled to present a special lecture session, has been postponed due to coronavirus. Originally planned for September 2020, organizers are tentatively planning on moving it to September 2022. For further information and updates visit https://viennatalk2020.mdw.ac.at/

Longtime HBS member trumpeter Peter Ecklund passed away on April 8, 2020 after a long battle with Parkinson’s disease. Peter was a rare musician who possessed a reserved personality, sharp wit, inquisitive mind, and was one of the most inventive and brilliant cornet players in the early jazz world. He was eager to explore a wide range of musical genres from natural trumpet, English slide trumpet, 19th century cornet repertoire to the world of early jazz, where he was a true star.

Edward H. Tarr (1936–2020), the pre-eminent baroque trumpeter of the twentieth century, has died at 83 following a period of illness. Tarr’s long career as a brilliant and expressive performer, a tireless scholar, and devoted teacher was of enormous influence in shaping the revival of historic brass instruments. His recordings and concerts stimulated considerable interest in the natural trumpet, an interest that he furthered with numerous editions of trumpet works, a rich body of pedagogical and musicological publication, and close work with the instrument makers Ewald Meinl and Rainer Egger in the reconstruction of instruments inspired by Wolf Wilhelm Haas, Hans Hainlein, and Johann Leonhard Ehe III. But crowning all of this was his beauty of sound and a highly cultivated sense of style that would entice and inspire generations of players and listeners throughout the world.

In light of the coronavirus pandemic, with the difficulty of travel and the importance of social distancing, we have cancelled our April 17 Symposium.

We are already working to reschedule, with a very possible date in late May of 2021 in the greater New York area. Please be patient as we coordinate with other organizations to bring this together. We will put out a new Call for Presentations as soon as we have a date and location confirmed, and will continue to update both the website and the Facebook page with additional details. Meanwhile, we hope everyone stays healthy and safe, and we look forward to seeing you all in the future.

The programme of the International Conference that will take place at the Venaria Reale Palace (Centro Conservazione e Restauro "La Venaria Rele") on February 20-21 is available for download. The works will be followed by a concert open to a wider public (Feb. 21st 17.30 h) in the Hall of Diana. The Hall is decorated with the original cycle of paintings (1659-1661) by Jan Miel which depict various phases of vènerie at the court of Savoy, showing about 20 circular horns. The paintings are quite possibly the earliest european iconographical source for the employment of circular horns in hunting.

The practice "The musical Art of Hunting Horn players" will undergo UNESCO evaluation in the year 2020 (for details on the application click here). The international application (Belgium, France, Italy and Luxembourg) refers to the nomination of the art in the UNESCO representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanities. In this phase the application only refers to the french hunting horn, trompe de chasse, but the common origin of the instrument and practice at 17th century europen courts hunting ceremonial, and the parallel impact in diffferent musical contexts, as art music, might involve, hopefully, a further more inclusive application.